Global apparel production and sweatshop labour: can raising retail prices finance living wages?

This paper provides some empirical evidence on issues raisedby the global anti-sweatshop movement. We first consider therelationship between wage and employment growth, finding noconsistent trade-off between them. We then measure the shareof labour costs in the production of garments in the US andMexico. We find that the retail price increases necessary toabsorb the costs of raising wages substantially are small, wellwithin the range of price increases that polls suggest US consumersare willing to pay. We close by considering some implicationsof these results.     

Collective agreements and the law in the Republic of Ireland: a case study in legal enforceability1

On a small scale, collective agreements are already legally binding in Ireland. A look at their operation and effectiveness gives some indication of what might happen if Conservative proposals become law in this country.     

Restructuring the electricity distribution sector: Implications for local government

This article discusses the proposals for restructuring the South African electricity distribution sector, with specific reference to the impact that such restructuring may have on local government. Currently, local government distributors rely on revenue from electricity sales to generate a surplus that is channelled into the relief of rates and provision of other services. The removal of this source of revenue may further impede the efficacy of local government. Issues pertaining to accountability, tax incidence and the financial viability of municipalities will also be affected, and therefore require further thought and clarification before a policy process is set in motion which yields adverse consequences.     

Corporate Responsibility for Economic,Social and Cultural Rights: Rights in Search of a Remedy?

It is no longer a revelation that companies have some responsibility to uphold human rights. However, delineating the boundaries of the relationship between business and human rights is more vexed. What is it that we are asking corporations to assume responsibility for and how far does that responsibility extend? This article focuses on the extent to which economic, social and cultural rights fall within a corporation’s sphere of responsibility. It then analyses how corporations may be held accountable for violations of such rights. Specifically, the article considers the use of soft law as a protective mechanism; it also details how victims of harmful corporate behaviour are using litigation (pursuant to ATCA and common law domestic causes of action) to seek redress and recognition of the harms they have directly or indirectly experienced. The article concludes with an analysis of Professor Ruggie’s (the United Nations Special Representative on the issue of transnational corporations and human rights) 2008 and 2009 Reports in which it is suggested that a respect-based framework must be interpreted as imposing proactive requirements on companies to prevent the infringement of human rights. Future efforts must also be directed towards the recognition of a specialised complementary corporate responsibility to protect human rights.     

The reporting of stigmatizing health conditions: a comparison of proxy and self-reporting.

Previous studies have found that self-respondents tend to report a greater number of health problems than do household proxies. It has not been clear, however, if such results indicate reporting bias or reflect underlying health differences in the self-respondent and household proxy populations. Verification data from a survey of medical providers were examined in conjunction with the results of a national household survey. Our analysis indicates that the use of proxies does not increase misreporting. Overall reporting error between self-respondents and proxy-respondents is comparable on reports of mental illness. When physical stigmatizing conditions are examined, the use of proxies actually appears to be preferable to interviewing respondents directly.     

Le Pont de Londres: Interactions between monetary and prudential policies in cross‐border lending

Using two unique confidential datasets summarizing the cross‐border lending of banks in France and the UK, we examine whether recipient‐country prudential policies can help to reduce the spillover effects of euro‐area (EA) monetary policy. We address this question from a novel angle, focused on the role of international financial centres, by considering differences in bank size and location (lending from French headquarters vs. from French affiliates located in the UK). For small French banks that lack a presence in international financial centres, the response of direct cross‐border lending from France to EA monetary policy is partially offset by recipient‐country prudential policy. For larger banks, however, the offsetting effect applies only to lending that passes through foreign affiliates located in London. This suggests the existence of a “London Bridge”: banks adapt their flows to the UK conditional on EA monetary policy and global prudential policies; and from their UK affiliates to third‐party countries in a manner that depends on local prudential settings.     

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Re-examining Nepotism and Discrimination in a Segmented Society

Abstract

We report the results from a series of trust games designed to distinguish racial discrimination from racial nepotism, played with a sample of high school students in Cape Town, South Africa. In contrast to the original work in this regard by Fershtman et al. (2005 Fershtman, C., Gneezy, U. and Verboven, F. 2005. “Discrimination and Nepotism: the efficiency of the anonymity rule,”. Journal of Legal Studies, 34: 371–396. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we find considerably greater heterogeneity in the way that proposers respond to the revealed racial identity of their partner, with nepotism being a dominant behavior. However, while some proposers exhibit a nepotistic bias in their offers that favors in-group members on average, others exhibit a nepotistic strategy that favors out-group members. A consequence of this nepotism is that both efficiency and equity are reduced on average.     

Territorial Stigmatization and Territorial Destigmatization: A Cultural Sociology of Symbolic Strategy in the Gentrification of Parkdale (Toronto)

Territorial stigmatization is one of the most powerful concepts for understanding how social, spatial and symbolic processes are intertwined in producing contemporary urban inequality. Through a detailed case study of Parkdale, a Toronto neighbourhood that has been profoundly shaped by its long association with poverty, single room occupancy housing and psychiatric survivors, this article works at the points of intersection between the rapidly expanding literature on territorial stigmatization and wider social scientific interest in gentrification‐led displacement. Drawing on archival research, participant observation and interviews with residents, it demonstrates how territorial stigmatization, and a new allied concept, territorial destigmatization, operate in Parkdale. Territorial stigmatization and destigmatization work across three dimensions: legal, material and discursive. Using conceptual tools from cultural sociology to foreground symbolic elements of these three dimensions, two strategies of territorial destigmatization are delineated: one that operates in concert with gentrification‐led displacement, and the other that works to symbolically reinscribe stigmatized persons and housing forms. To complement and sharpen territorial stigmatization research, recent findings from studies of stigma are integrated to show how psychiatric survivors and housing advocates in Parkdale use territorial destigmatization to offset gentrification‐led displacement.     

Revisiting wage subsidies: How pro-poor is a South African wage subsidy likely to be?

Wage subsidies have been used in both developed and developing countries to raise employment. After a decade of deliberation, the South African Government recently announced the introduction of a wage subsidy scheme. Given the intrinsic link between unemployment and poverty in South Africa, the belief is that a wage subsidy programme sufficient in scope will also make inroads into poverty. However, the way in which jobs are distributed among poor and non-poor jobseekers is crucial. Our general equilibrium microsimulation model confirms the expectation that a higher wage elasticity of labour demand is associated with larger reductions in poverty. We also find that a greater proportion of new jobs accrue to poor jobseekers when the elasticity is high. While youth-targeting does not improve the poverty-reducing effect of the policy, sectors such as textiles, accommodation, and construction services with their pro-poor employment profiles are good candidates for targeting.     

How effective is central bank communication in emerging economies? An empirical analysis of the chinese money markets responses to the people’s bank of China’s policy communications

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - Central banks, in both developed and developing economies, are responding to the increased demand for transparency in monetary policy formulation and...